I've Got'cha, Nick
by The Kenny Parable
Summary: "Don't let go, Ellis. I've got you - don't let go - DON'T-" Nick-centric. Nick/Ellis friendship. Possible hints of onesided Nellis. Major character(s) death.


**a n ; **yooo I finally started writing my L4D2 fic that I've been plotting for the last month or so. I'm not sure if I'm going to make this fic Nellis or not, yet. Probably not - I kind of really really want this to be super platonic and heavy on the friendship. Maybe I'll do a one-sided thing, but I doubt it.

**warning for major character death(s) in this story. Not this chapter, persay. But this story def. **I apologize in advance. (but I don't.)

Please assume this takes place earl(ier) on in the campaign. These guys don't completely know or trust each other yet. Thank you.

i'm actually a little scared to post this hah. there are so many great authors in this fandom and then there's mE. (who's played the game a hundred times over but still cannot play dark carnival hah what a loser)

* * *

Their formation was perfect. And by formation, it meant that they were very, very loosely organized. It alternated between front and back, and left and right.

Either Coach or Nick would take the lead; the other would guard the group from the back. Most often, Ellis would handle hordes or specials from the left, while Rochelle covered the right.

Whoever it was in front could, and would, warn and inform the rest of what was coming straight towards them, and do their best to pick off whatever they could. The survivor in the back would pick off any infected following them, trailing them, or an infected they had otherwise missed.

Even then, with their little template, it rarely stayed that way. They'd leave the safe house in a formation, but after what, five minutes, they'd have already disbanded - everyone had something they needed to worry about. Formations never lasted long, anyways. Especially considering Ellis was involved.

It seemed that the kid gave only a fraction of the concern he held for the other three members of the group for himself.

Time after time, he'd conveniently "forget" or ignore a smoker, a spitter, or even a horde at times, in order to protect another member of the group. Many times Nick'd found himself more concerned with watching Ellis and keeping the boy _alive_ than he was on shooting whatever it was following them. It was because of Nick's constant eye that the boy would continue to live to see another day.

They covered each other; they kept each other going, kept them _alive_. That didn't only apply to Nick and Ellis. That applied to all four of them: Nick, Rochelle, Ellis, Coach. They were there to look out for each other. To not let each other _die._

* * *

Trust was incredibly crucial in post-apocalyptic settings, as any fiction writer (that was still alive) would say.

It wouldn't be smart to put your life in the hands of someone you didn't trust as far as you could throw them. Though, when they're your _only_ hope for survival, you don't need all that _much_ trust, after all.

Fortunately for Ellis, everyone trusted him. There was just something about him that made him so damn likeable and made the other three just _want_ to trust him. He was… well, innocent, and he had this air of purity around him, one Nick just couldn't comprehend.

As for Nick, well, he wasn't so lucky.

Rochelle, for one, never truly trusted him, never fully. She'd been wary of the con man from the start, and Nick was well aware of this. Still, it wasn't as if he could say he _hated_ her. Nor vice-versa. Nick rather liked having Rochelle around, and she was certainly glad to have her around. Even so – neither could honestly say they trusted each other, not yet.

Coach didn't exactly trust the man either, but they both depended on Nick, a little bit.

But Ellis, Ellis trusted the hustler with his _life_. He honestly believed that Nick wouldn't let _anything _happen to him. That Nick was truly his friend, that Nick was there for him, would _stay_ there for him.

Poor kid didn't know just _who _he was dealing with.

While he sure as hell wasn't going to admit it to any of the other three - especially not Ellis, God, he'd break the kid - Nick had one and only one objective in lieu in all of this 'zombie apocalypse' shit.

_He_ needed to survive, first and foremost. Help the others, if he can, so long as his own safety is guaranteed.

He couldn't just outright dump them, he needed them. They needed him.

All four of them had their own niche in the group.

Coach was the power; he was the strongest, emotionally and physically.

Nick was the sharpshooter. He didn't miss often, and he easily had the fastest reaction time.

Rochelle was a nurse of sorts; she was always there to patch them up, that is, when she wasn't racking up headshots.

Ellis… Well, Ellis was their light, their glue. He kept them going. He was the reason they'd stayed together, why they hadn't given up yet. As annoying as the kid's stories about him and his friend Keith's shenanigans were, they'd begun to grow on all three of them.

He didn't tell them because he liked to hear his own voice (though Nick would _swear_ that was Ellis' primary reason), but he did it to benefit the other three. To keep the mood light. As light as the mood _could_ be when they have a zom chasing them at any given moment.

They needed him to keep them going just as much as he needed them to keep him safe.

It was a group of four people that sure as hell would never have worked together in such a close way under _any_ circumstances other than this life-or-death scenario.

Though it was also a group that functioned at its peak when they were together as well as when they operated on their own. Each member of this strange little team each had their own specialized skills. Luckily for them - all of those skills blended together absolutely _perfectly_.

Nothing could ever break apart that perfect little group they had.

**_Nothing_****.**


End file.
